Spectrum legislation survived a lengthy House Communications Subcommittee markup in which the political parties squabbled over many details of the complicated bill. The subcommittee voted 17-6 to approve the GOP draft bill with amendments. Every Democrat voted no except Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga. The approved version would authorize voluntary incentive auctions and give public safety the 700 MHz D-block and $6.5 billion for a national wireless broadband network. The draft would not let the FCC provide for unlicensed use spectrum freed up by incentive auctions. States and a private company would play a large role in governance of the public safety network. And the bill would limit FCC authority to make rules in auctions.
The Senate won’t move spectrum legislation this year, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday. That development came the same day that House Commerce Republicans reversed position on the 700 MHz D-block, bringing the House and Senate closer to consensus. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who previously supported a commercial auction of the D-block, released a new draft of his spectrum bill that would give public safety the license to the D-block. However, House Commerce Democrats, who still have reservations about unlicensed spectrum and some other issues, released their own rival draft bill. The House Communications Subcommittee is scheduled to mark up spectrum legislation Thursday.
An order on Lifeline reform is expected to circulate Tuesday, FCC and telecom officials said. Wireline staffers were continuing to work on the order through Monday, but the eighth floor hadn’t been briefed on its contents yet, an FCC official said. Industry has been atwitter over the proposed order because of speculation that the commission could still cap the fund (CD Nov 17 p9). On Monday, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said she hoped that wasn’t the case. Matsui plans “to convey to the FCC that the Lifeline program should not be capped,” she told us in an email. “Instead, the FCC should restrain any uncontrolled growth of the Low-Income Fund, similar to what they do with the High Cost Fund. The Low-Income fund plays a critical role in connecting the most vulnerable Americans, including our seniors, with their communities and families. That should not be compromised.” Matsui said she'll also urge the FCC to use the Lifeline program as a model to promote broadband adoption among the poor.
House Judiciary Committee leaders should consider “narrow and targeted remedies” against online infringement, rather than the “overly broad” provisions in the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), scheduled for a hearing Wednesday (see separate report in this issue), lawmakers said in a letter Tuesday. House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, both Silicon Valley Democrats, and nine others told Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Ranking Member John Conyers, D-Mich., SOPA “would target legitimate domestic websites, creating significant uncertainties for those in the technology and venture capital industries.” SOPA overturns the “basic protection” provided by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s notice-and-takedown system and safe-harbor provisions, the letter said: “The result will be an explosion of innovation-killing lawsuits and litigation” that will scare away venture capitalists from Internet-based businesses. The bill as written “would cause serious and long term damage to the technology industry, one of the few bright spots in our economy.” The letter was also signed by Reps. Jared Polis, D-Colo., Ron Paul, R-Texas, Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Mike Doyle, D-Pa., Mike Honda, D-Calif., Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, Mike Thompson, D-Calif., George Miller, D-Calif., and John Campbell, R-Calif.
Congress needs to find a balance between unlicensed and licensed spectrum in “any spectrum legislation it may move this fall,” CTIA President Steve Largent said in a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. “To be clear, any band plan adopted by the Commission for the repurposed broadcast bands must not sacrifice spectrum in the TV bands that is ideal for licensed mobile wireless broadband service to accommodate unlicensed use,” Largent wrote. “That does not mean there is no opportunity for unlicensed usage in those bands. Because there will need to be a gap between the uplink and downlink bands used for licensed services, there may be a possibility (subject to appropriate interference safeguards that protect adjacent, primary licensed services) to permit secondary unlicensed usage in that gap.” Congress should allow unlicensed use in the white spaces of a repacked TV band and also approve additional unlicensed usage in the 5 GHz band as recommended in HR-2520, sponsored by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Largent said.
Thirteen cable operators will follow Comcast’s lead in selling broadband service for about $10 monthly to low-income households, the cable industry and FCC confirmed Wednesday. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and House Commerce Committee Democratic members Doris Matsui of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts praised the plans. The agency described it as a $4 billion “unprecedented, in-kind offer” by ISPs and others for 15 million to 25 million Americans to get Internet service. That’s the sum of commitments made by Microsoft, Morgan Stanley and others, including some like Best Buy that have been previously publicized, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. NCTA said companies ranging from Time Warner Cable to BendBroadband, with less than 50,000 subscribers in central Oregon, are participating in the Connect to Compete Program (CD Oct 13 p11). The program that NCTA said its members are participating in resembles a service Comcast agreed to offer as part of getting FCC approval to buy NBCUniversal. “Comcast has also been an early and important leader with their Internet Essentials Initiative,” Genachowski said at a public school in Washington. He said (http://xrl.us/bmh9ph) Commissioner Mignon Clyburn “is going to be playing an active role in mobilizing the ground game.” Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, GCI, Mediacom, Midcontinent Communications and Suddenlink are among the cable participants. Cable operators will start adding participants in the spring, with a nationwide rollout next fall, the NCTA said: “An eligible family may enroll anytime during that three-year window for a period of up to two years.” There are 5.5 million households with kids eligible for free school lunches -- the population that can take advantage of the cable offer -- who don’t buy broadband, the NCTA said (http://xrl.us/bmh9ot). AT&T, not part of Wednesday’s event, has “always and will continue to be on the look-out for opportunities to promote the benefits of broadband and to bring more Americans into the broadband era,” Senior Vice President Bob Quinn said (http://xrl.us/bmh9nm). Cable operators participating in the program reach 86 percent of U.S. households, Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen said (http://xrl.us/bmh9o3): “Eligible households will have the option to purchase a refurbished computer for $150."
The telecom world largely responded cautiously as the FCC on Thursday adopted its Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime changes. But telecom officials and observers predicted lawsuits would begin pouring in after the 400-plus page order is published and digested. Meanwhile, the order itself hadn’t been finished, an FCC official told us. Staff were continuing to incorporate edits agreed upon by the commissioners late in the process but before the vote, and the order won’t be ready for release until at least the end of next week, the official said. Less-substantive changes are also still being made.
House Communications Subcommittee leaders are at odds over the right approach to unlicensed spectrum as the subcommittee continues negotiations on spectrum legislation, without a clear picture of when a markup will happen. Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., pushed Wednesday for more unlicensed spectrum to be released. But Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., questioned giving spectrum away for free. Unlicensed spectrum is “one of the most important issues in the continued negotiations over spectrum” in the committee and the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, a Democratic House staffer said.
The FCC should help schools, libraries and other anchor institutions when it overhauls the Universal Service Fund, said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif. In a letter Monday to Chairman Julius Genachowski, Matsui said broadband carriers receiving money from the high-cost fund must help anchors in rural and urban areas. The letter was also signed by House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “These institutions are engaged in some of our most important national priorities -- education, economic development, health and wellness, job training and support, and access to e-government services, among many others,” the members wrote. The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition agreed, calling broadband “essential to increasing educational opportunities, telemedicine and economic growth in rural America."
Public safety may be in striking distance of winning the 700 MHz D-block in the House Communications Subcommittee, after the subcommittee looked likely to say no. Communications Subcommitee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said Friday she expected Democrats would file an amendment to reallocate the D-block to public safety (CD Oct 17 p6). If all 12 of the subcommittee’s Democrats support reallocation, as some expect, public safety would only need three of 16 Republicans votes to have the amendment adopted. Some subcommittee Republicans said Monday that they are undecided on D-block. And the Public Safety Alliance is “feeling confident” it will have Republican votes, said spokesman Sean Kirkendall.